But housing conditions in the D-FW area and across the country have cooled since the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country starting in late March.

“The first-quarter price jumps mostly reflect conditions prior to the coronavirus outbreak and show the strength of the housing demand prior to the pandemic,” Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said in the report.

Forty-six of the U.S. markets the Realtors looked at had double-digit home price gains in the first quarter.

Only a handful of U.S. metro areas saw year-over-year declines in prices. The greatest decreases were in Bowling Green, Ky. (-2.7%) and Shreveport, La. (-2.1%).

“Even now, due to very limited listings, home prices are showing no signs of buckling,” Yun said.

The housing market is being hampered by a severe shortage of inventory due to sellers sitting on the sidelines during the pandemic.

“Supply is extremely limited, and there are simply not as many homes for sale to meet the demand among potential buyers,” he said. “More supply and more listings are needed to provide a faster recovery for the economy.”

Nationwide home sales listings are down more than 10%, and in the D-FW area the number of single-family homes offered by real estate agents is 13% lower than a year ago.

In April, North Texas median home sales prices were up 5% from 2019. Real estate analysts are forecasting either very small D-FW price increases or a small decline for all of 2020 due to the pandemic.

Looking at major Texas metros, Austin had the largest first-quarter annual price gain — up 12.6% from first-quarter 2019, according to the Realtors association.

Prices rose 5.4% in the San Antonio area and were 4% higher in Houston.

Nationwide home prices were 7.7% higher in the first quarter.(National Association of Realtors )